There is some debate over the song’s authorship. Dalhart copyrighted the song in the name of his cousin, Guy Massey. He gave Massey 5% of the songwriting royalties and took the other 95% himself. WK Dalhart heard the song from Guy, who sang it while staying at Dalhart’s home. However, Guy reportedly heard it from his brother Robert Massey, who may have heard the song while doing time in prison. WK It has even been suggested that Robert F. Taylor carved the lyrics into a county jail cell wall in Blakely, Georgia. WK Regardless of authorship, the publishers were happy to hype the song as written by a jailbird. RCG
Nat Shilkret fought for authorship as well. He was the A&R man over the country division of Victor Records and claimed he had to rewrite the music because what Dalhart brought in was unusuable. WK